The Bridgegate scandal that ultimately killed Gov. Chris Christie's own presidential aspirations played a major role in Donald Trump's decision to enter the race, according to the new inside-the-White House book by Michael Wolff.
In his book, "Fire and Fury," Wolff claims Trump said he would not have run against the New Jersey governor but for the Bridgegate scandal.
In fact, he considered whether he might run as Christie's vice president, said Wolff.
"Trump had backed Christie as he rose through New Jersey politics. He admired Christie's straight-talk style, and for a while, as Christie anticipated his own presidential run in 2012 and 2013--and as Trump was looking for a next chapter for himself with the fading of The Apprentice, his reality TV franchise--Trump even wondered whether he might be a vice presidential possibility for Christie," Wolff wrote.
Wolff said Trump "privately justified the Bridgegate incident as 'just New Jersey hardball')."
Nevertheless, early in the presidential campaign, Trump launched a blistering attack of Christie, charging that he knew about the lane closings at the center of the George Washington Bridge scandal before they happened.
"He knew about it," Trump declared during a 2015 campaign rally in South Carolina. "He totally knew about it."
Two former Christie administration insiders were ultimately convicted in the politically motivated scheme to shut down several toll lanes to punish a local mayor who declined to endorse the governor for re-election.
Christie was never accused of any wrongdoing or found to have had advance knowledge of the scheme.
The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment on Wolff's assertions.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News that Wolff made up quotes and anecdotes for his controversial book.
"This is a guy who made up a lot of stories to try to sell books, and I think more and more people are starting to see that his facts just simply don't add up," she said
Wolff in his book also pointed to a new theory over who was behind Christie's fall from the Trump circle.
According to the Wolff book, Christie believed his support of Trump would lead to a clear track to the slot for vice president. Instead, the governor got the job of leading the transition. After the election, however, the governor was removed.
Many have assumed that it was the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who pulled the trigger. In 2004, when he was New Jersey's U.S. attorney, Christie prosecuted Kushner's father, Charles Kushner, for tax evasion, witness tampering, and illegal campaign donations. The senior Kushner, a real estate developer and major Democratic donor in the Garden State, was sent to federal prison.
In a rare interview after the election, Jared Kushner told Forbes that he was not the one who caused Christie's removal.
"The media has speculated on a lot of different things, and since I don't talk to the press, they go as they go, but I was not behind pushing out him or his people," he said.
According to Wolff, it was not Jared who was responsible. It was his wife.
In the book, Wolff said Ivanka held the real influence in the Trump circle and was the one who delivered the fatal blow.
"Ivanka told her father that Christie's appointment as chief of staff or to any other high position would be extremely difficult for her and her family, and it would be best that Christie be removed from the Trump orbit altogether."
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.